


Joviality

by EveandJohnny



Series: The Radiologist [5]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Holiday celebrations at the Shatterdome, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-14 02:08:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12997509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EveandJohnny/pseuds/EveandJohnny
Summary: It's the festive season and even the post-war Shatterdome isn't immune against the merry mood that means. Including baking shenaningans, family reunions and serene sleepovers.





	Joviality

Chuck stood in the kitchen, his hands placed on his hips, and suspiciously eyed the countertop. He was wearing Tendo’s apron adorned by the lettering “Mr Good Looking is cooking”. He had only rolled his eyes when Tendo had handed it to him while Raleigh and Mako had sniggered behind their hands.

“It was a present from Alison, so don’t ruin it” Tendo had said with a stern look.

“I won’t” Chuck had grumbled and turned to his boyfriend to give him a raised eyebrow.

Raleigh had replied with a smug grin. “Why are you looking at me like that? I can only agree with the apron, except that you’re going to bake, not to cook.”

Chuck had thrown his hands in the air and walked over to the cantina’s kitchen. When Raleigh and Mako hadn’t followed him he had shouted “Hey, what are you folks up to?”

Mako had turned. “We’re not going to bake with Anna and you. Herc wants us to decorate the mess.”

Chuck had growled. Why did he have to grapple with flour, dough and biscuits? Not that he was more familiar with holiday ornaments and fairy lights, either. The feel of Christmas, or Hanukkah, or any other holiday around the end of the year, would hardly come to you when outside the house it was 30°C. And after his mum’s death and the start of the Kaiju war holiday spirit was practically nonexistent. So it was hard for him to come to terms with the reissue of peacetime rituals.

“Come on, Chuck, it’s gonna be fun.” Annabelle was already assembling the first recipe.

He snorted. “That’s easy to say for someone who’s been celebrating Christmas all their life.”

She ignored his comment and instead added more flour to the dough. Then she passed the bowl on to Chuck who had by now ambled over to the countertop. “Here, knead it. This dough needs every aggression you have.”

“Yeah?” Chuck was wondering if she was making fun of him.

“Yeah” Annabelle replied matter-of-factly.

Chuck shrugged. “Okay” he muttered and plunged his hands into the bowl. After a while he asked. “What’s this going to be by the way?”

“Gingerbread Snowballs.”

“And what are you making there?” He pointed a dough-smeared finger at the bowl she was working at.

Annabelle looked at him with a mischievous grin. “These are for you - Grinch cookies”.

He huffed. “Super-duper funny.”

“Oh, come on!” She grabbed a pinch of flour and threw it at him.

“Hey!” Before he could fume about such childish behaviour, the flour found its way into his nose and he had to sneeze. He pawed at this nose and realized too late that this was probably not the best idea. Now he found gingerbread dough clinging to the tip of his nose.

When Annabelle saw him looking cross-eyed at the batter she burst into vigorous laughter.

“Oh, you just wait” Chuck snarled but he wasn’t even half as mad as before. He seized a clump of gingerbread, rolled it into a ball and flung it at her.

She was prospective enough to shove both bowls of dough to the back of the countertop before she grabbed another fistful of flour. “You bastard” she cried out when more flour landed in her hair.

“You called me a Grinch!” He darted for her with his arms raised, then wrapped them around her waist from behind. Chuck had no trouble lifting her up even though she nearly weighed twice as much as Mako. Annabelle tried to wrestle her way out of his iron grip and kicked her legs in the air but her attempts to free herself were fruitless. Chuck seemed absolutely not troubled by them.

***

Mako and Raleigh came up to the kitchen door, glitter and bits of tinsel in their hair, and giggled uncontrollably. Suddenly Raleigh stopped in his tracks.

“Wait a second.”

Mako was still laughing a bit when she asked “What?”

Raleigh sniffed exaggeratedly and frowned. “I don’t smell anything but they should at least have one batch ready by now, don’t you think?”

 “Now that you say it” Mako’s voice trailed out with a knitted brow. They both reached for the door but what they saw behind it was surely not what they expected.

“Chuck?”

“Anna?”

The addressed people stopped in what they were doing, namely rolling around on the kitchen floor covered in flour and other baking ingredients.

Annabelle blushed heavily to the roots of her black hair but Chuck looked so smug and dignified as if he was sitting at a table sipping tea.

“Raleigh! Mako! So you are done with the decorating, it seems.”

Raleigh stood above them with his arms crossed in front of his chest. “We are. But what about you? You don’t even have the oven on.”

Chuck however, made no move to let Annabelle go. And she didn’t seem uncomfortable in his arms, either.

“True. But now that you are here, why don’t you help us? We have two batches of dough prepared so why don’t you just get them in shape while we prepare the rest of the batter” Annabelle proposed as she finally wiggled out of Chuck’s embrace. She cleaned herself sparsely and smiled sweetly before she went back to the countertop.

“So, what is this going to be?” Raleigh asked and pointed at the garish green batter in front of him.

“These are going to be Grinch Cookies. You just roll about an inch long piece of dough into a ball, flatten it on the baking tray and press some chocolate lenses into it. Mako, could you please get to the -“ Annabelle stopped in her explanations with one hand raised midway in the air.

“Yeah?” Mako had raised an eyebrow and was following Annabelle’s pointed index finger with a questioning gaze because it was indicating thin air.

“Gingerbread Snowballs. Where is my gingerbread dough?”

They realized it all at the same time and said in unison “Chuck!” with more or less exasperation.

Annabelle’s shoulders slumped. “Fine then. Let’s just go on with the chocolate kiss cookies.” She reached for a small bowl where unwrapped drops of chocolate were stored in.

“By the way, how could you work without some proper Christmas music?” Mako asked.

Annabelle was surprised. She hadn’t thought Mako to be terribly into the festivities, just like Chuck. She shrugged. “To be honest, I forgot.”

“How could you!” Mako asked in feigned shock. “Let me put on my favourite songs.”

“Sure, why not.” Though Annabelle was wondering what those songs could be.

Mako took out her phone, pressed a few buttons and suddenly a fine glockenspiel started playing.

Oh, nice, something classical and traditional, Annabelle thought. But Raleigh had recognized the song immediately. “God, sometimes you’re so cheesy, Mako, I can’t quite believe it.”

It dawned on Annabelle what he meant when Mariah Carey’s syrupy voice trailed out of the loudspeakers. But she just had to giggle and started to hum the tune. Mako meanwhile was singing to it in the flattest way possible. Raleigh tried to be stern and annoyed but soon his face relaxed into a happy smile. When the next song came on he surprised the two women with how word-perfect he was on Wham’s perennial tooting classic _._

So they worked in silent company, and tray after tray full of sweetly smelling cookies left the oven. By now a cluster of curious and hungry spectators had gathered at the door of the kitchen.

When all bowls and plates were filled, Raleigh instructed the expectant bunch of Shatterdome inhabitants to form a line. Everyone got a dish in their hands and was told to bring them out into the merrily decorated mess.

Herc appeared at one of the landings. He wasn’t wearing anything festive, just his regular uniform, but his smile and his posture disclosed his lifted mood. As every staff discovered a little nicely-wrapped gift on their seat, Herc was pleased to hear the little squeals of joy. Nobody knew it but he had sat in his office during the last week enveloping and decorating every last one of them. The Jewish staff were acknowledged with lit hannukiahs and dreidels placed in the middle of their tables. Although it wasn’t the time yet, the Christmas decorations were blended together with traditional Chinese New Year ornaments. And even though Muslims didn’t have a holiday around December, they still had hung up parchments with religious calligraphies for them. With a wave of his hand, Herc motioned Tendo to dim the lights so the candles could provide their warm light.

“The holidays can be lonely when you’re far away from home. But I hope that we can make a second family to everyone who can’t be with their loved ones this year. So let’s enjoy the celebrations and make merry together.” His staff clapped but suddenly a hushed whisper started at the opposite end of the mess. Heads whipped around and fingers were pointed. Herc inquired from Tendo what this was all about but all he could respond with was a shrug. Then from the tunnel under the landing Herc was standing on Chuck emerged. He was carrying a tray as large as a bus wheel on his head. On this tray stood a giant gingerbread castle, adorned with whistling sparklers and red ribbons.

“Happy holidays!” Chuck shouted and grinned with childish glee when everyone errupted into a loud cheer. A few people hurried over to him to relieve him from the burden of this monument of confectionary.

Raleigh fell into his arms the second they were free. “You’ve just amazed me once more” he whispered and his voice caught in his throat.

“That’s one of my qualities. Hey- are you crying?”

Raleigh leaned back a bit to see Chuck in the eyes. His were watering slightly. “Yeah” he said, not the least bit embarrassed. “Merry Christmas, Charles Hansen. I love you.”

Chuck rolled his eyes when Raleigh addressed him with his full name. He couldn’t help but blush, though. “I love you, too, Rayleigh Becket.”

“You Australian wan-“

“Tststs, would you watch your language, Raleigh.” Mako had stepped up to them and was practically beaming. Raleigh freed one arm from Chuck and put it around Mako’s petite shoulders, pulling her tightly to him.

Chuck looked over Mako’s head to Annabelle and nodded her towards them. She gingerly walked in-between Mako and Chuck. Mako slung her arm around Annabelle’s waist and Chuck lay his arm around her shoulders.

“Merry Christmas to you, my sweethearts” she said after she had looked at each of her friends.

***

Later in the evening, Chuck lay in Raleigh’s arms. They were about to drift over to sleep as the festive celebrations had ended rather late.

“Mmh” Raleigh murmured “Good night, my gingerbread snowball.”

Chuck was nearly asleep but he still managed a chuckle. “That’s a bit long for a pet name, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, I know” Raleigh whispered. “But I think it’s so cute. And perfectly fitting for you. A pity we didn’t get to taste the original version because you had to make a massive castle out of the dough instead.”

“But you have to admit that it _was_ pretty impressive.” Not a single crumble had been left after the feast. Chuck was too tired to snap over Raleigh’s comment, and anyway, he felt rather peaceful.

“I’m not saying it wasn’t.” Raleigh replied and kissed the spot behind Chuck’s ear.

Chuck purred like a kitten but it wasn’t enough to rouse him out of his sleepiness. “Come on, let us sleep. There’s still time tomorrow for a proper shag.”

“Tststs, you and your profanities” Raleigh scolded him with a smile but he stopped teasing him in the end. Instead, he wrapped his arm tighter around Chuck’s waist and nuzzled his head between Chuck’s shoulder blades.

***

Up on the floor of the medical wing, Annabelle lay in her bed staring up at the bleak metal ceiling. Suddenly, her phone vibrated on the nightstand. She grabbed it and had a look on the display. The caller’s name read “Mama”. She had to blink twice before she accepted.

“Hallo _?_ ”

“ _Annabelle, how are you?_ ” she heard the soft voice of her mother ask.

“ _Mama, it’s been a while that I heard from you._ ” Annabelle couldn’t prevent the snarky comment to fall from her lips. She immediately regretted it, though, because she knew how easily irritated her mom could become.

Surprisingly, not today. “ _We’ve all been busy, just like you were. I called to wish you happy holidays. From all of us._ ” There was a rustling at the end of the line, then: “Gelukkig Kerstfeest, ma belle la vie!” a mass of people shouted. She couldn’t distinguish any voices, except for her father’s, who called her by an old nickname he hadn’t used for her in years. It was a pun with her name but also meant _my beautiful life_ in his mother tongue.

When she realized that it was probably the whole family greeting her, tears sprang to her eyes and she started sobbing uncontrollably. By hearing her family who she hadn’t seen in over a year - and hadn’t heard from in nearly as long - all the usually suppressed emotions broke through her carefully constructed shell.

“ _Annie, are you alright?_ ” Now it was only her mom on the phone. Annabelle put it down but she still heard her mom’s muffled expressions of worry. When the bawls had died down she breathed deeply a couple of times before she picked up the phone again.

“ _Yeah, I’m good. Don’t worry; I’m just... so happy to hear from all of you._ ”

“ _I hope you’re not alone during the holidays. I mean, it was_ your _choice to not come home._ ” There it finally was: her mom’s reproachful tone.

She decided to ignore it. “ _I’m not alone, I promise. Just this evening we all celebrated together. I was responsible for the cookies. We had a great feast with food from all over the world. I just got into bed when you called._ ” That was a lie, though, because she had lain awake for an hour, homesick to her stomach.

“ _Glad to hear that. Oh yes, gosh! How late is it in Hong Kong now?_ ”

“ _1am on the 25 th._”

“ _Well, we just got together for dinner. But I don’t want to keep you from sleeping._ ”

“Mama?”

“ _Yes?_ ”

“ _It_ _was really nice talking to you and to hear the rest of us. Tell them I hug them, okay?_ ”

“ _I will, Good night._ ”

“ _Night,_ Mama.” Annabelle pressed the red button and put the phone down. Then she wiped the last tears away. Someone over at the door coughed. She looked up and discovered Mako in the darkness.

“Hey” Mako said shyly. “Are you okay?”

“Hi. Oh, yeah. My mom just called without warning and I got a little sentimental. What about you, wandering around like a ghost in the middle of the night?”

Mako shuffled with her feet. “I don’t want to sleep alone tonight.”

“Well, come on in then.” Annabelle drew back her duvet.

“Ah no, I was on my way to Raleigh, I just thought it would be unfair to leave you sleeping on your own.”

“Do I get this right? You want the four of us to sleep in one bed?” It went without saying that when one said Raleigh or Chuck one actually meant Raleigh _and_ Chuck, at least most of the time.

“Well, yeah. They have gotten a larger bed now that they have moved up to the families’ tier.

“But will it fit us all?” Annabelle was still leery.

Mako’s smile took a turn to the mischievous. “There’s only one way to find out. Come on, let’s go!”

Annabelle sighed heavily but only to cover her eagerness. She really wasn’t in the mood to sleep alone tonight and crashing in Chuck’s bed sounded rather thrilling.

The two women proceeded up the stairs to the floor where the couples and families lived in the case that both adults worked in the Shatterdome. Mako led the way to Raleigh’s and Chuck’s single-room apartment and opened the door. Only a faint bit of light from the corridor spilled through the crack of the door, otherwise it was dark in the room. Their eyes adjusted to the dimness, then they went over to the bed, Mako to the left where Raleigh was sleeping and Annabelle to right on Chuck’s side. On the silent count of three, they crept under the oversized blanket. Mako snuggled up to Raleigh’s broad back without hesitation and basically disappeared behind him. Annabelle slid a little more gingerly closer to Chuck trying to invade his privacy not too much. While she was still adjusting her position she heard a chuckle. Alarmed, she looked up to see that Chuck had popped one eye open and was smiling smugly.

“Come closer” he mouthed and pulled his arm away from where it was laying on top of Raleigh’s to move it around Annabelle’s body.

“That’s okay for you?” she asked though she was already pressed to Chuck’s chest.

He just nodded, brushed her forehead with his lips, then let his head fall back on the pillow.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope that brought you a little into the jolly spirit ;)
> 
> Annabelle and her mom talk in Dutch to each other but for the sake of easy understanding I wrote it in English.  
> Gingerbread Castle inspired by: https://vintagekitty.com/victorian-storefront-gingerbread-house-template/ It’s just that Chuck’s not the one for Victorian aesthetics. He likes it a little bigger. The rest of the recipes can also be found on the lovely blog foodffs.tumblr.com


End file.
